


A Promise to Return

by TheRedshirtWhoLived



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Spoilers, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28018176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRedshirtWhoLived/pseuds/TheRedshirtWhoLived
Summary: After Saewynn Rivers is poisoned, Aymeric de Borel sits vigil at her side. When she wakes up, he has something to tell her.
Relationships: Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	A Promise to Return

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first work in this fandom, hope you like it. Much thanks to the lovely members of the Bookclub, without whom I would not have had the confidence or inspiration to do this.

Saewynn floated on a sea of dull, throbbing pain. 

“-Wynn? Can you hear me?” 

She tried to turn her head in the direction of the voice, and as she did so, the input from her senses finally made its way to her brain. The aching waves softened into a gentle, comfortable sensation. Blinking her eyes open, Saewynn sat bolt upright as her most recent memories flooded through her – the bitter taste of poison, the sluggish feeling that had spread through her limbs, the strange mix of regret and triumph on the barmaid’s face… 

“Wha-wha’ ‘appened?” she murmured as she blinked rapidly at the blurry world. “Is-is th’ conf’rence-“ The blur of blue at her bedside resolved itself into Aymeric’s familiar face. He looked more tired than she’d ever seen him, even after he’d rescued the hostages at the Vault after the failed attempt on his life. Dark shadows loomed beneath his eyes, and Saewynn was pretty sure that was _stubble_ on his jaw. “Aymeric? What-what are ye doin’ here?” 

At her words, all the tension seemed to fall from his shoulders, and the smile that spread across his face utterly eclipsed his exhaustion. “ _Saewynn_ ,” he whispered. “Full glad I am to see you open your eyes.” Something in her heart _leaped_ at the relief in his voice, and she tried and failed to quash it. 

“Aymeric,” she said again, trying to keep the wobble out of her voice. “Is everything all right?”

Something flickered through his eyes too fast for her to catch it, and a brief, incredulous burst of laughter burst from his throat before he answered. “ _Is everything all_ \- You almost died, Saewynn! You were unconscious for _three days_ while your sister, Y’shtola, and Alphinaud worked day and night to keep you alive! But you woke up.” At this, the anger seemed to drain out of him. “You woke up, so, yes. Everything is all right.”

Saewynn’s frown intensified at his words. “Aymeric, what’s gotten into you? I’ve never seen you like this.” Even as she said the words, she realized their truth: she really had never seen him this…desperate, not even after his torture at the hands of the Heavens’ Ward, not even after Haurchefant- With a firm mental _stomp_ , she cut off that line of thought. 

To her surprise, a gentle flush spread over his high cheekbones. “When I heard that you had fallen ill...” His blue eyes burned as he leaned forward, and Saewynn found herself transfixed. “I have never seen you that close to death before. Seeing you lying there, so still and pale…the last three days were some of the longest and most terrifying of my life. And the main thing that sustained me through that long vigil while I tried to hold Ishgard together and prayed for you to be well was a promise I made to myself. I promised myself that if you woke up- _when_ you woke up, I would tell you how I feel.”

A startled laugh burst from Saewynn’s throat before she could stop it. “Aymeric, you already tell me how you feel. Quite frequently, as it happens.”

Aymeric took her hand in his, and Saewynn looked down at their joined hands before quickly focusing her gaze on a particularly interesting bird outside her window. The bird was a much safer thing to focus on. 

“Oh, Saewynn.” As his voice caressed the soft sounds of her name, Saewynn couldn’t help but look back at him, even as heat suffused her frame. “I’ve never told you how I feel like this before.”

“And-and how would that be?” She could barely get the words out, because it felt like her traitorous heart had lodged itself in her throat.

“I have never told you how ardently I love you.”

His words sailed into the silence between them, and Saewynn could only sit there, reeling. “You-you _love_ me?” she whispered. 

Aymeric nodded earnestly. “Yes. Yes, Saewynn Rivers, I love you. You are…you are clever and kind and so, so very beautiful. You are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I am a better man for having you in my life.”

A storm of emotions whirled within Saewynn, and she pulled her hand back, curling in on herself in an effort to find some small measure of comfort. “ _Aymeric_ ,” she whispered. “Aymeric, I’m…I’m flattered. And I…you’re so very important to me. But…why would you tell me something like that when there’s no way a relationship between us could end with anything but tears?”

His eyes widened, and the raw pain welling within them hurt more than the poison had “Saewynn… Saewynn, why do you say such things?”

Saewynn’s answering laugh would have fit a raven’s mouth better than a hyur. “Because-because everything I’ve seen since I was a child tells me that we would never work out. That we-we could never…” The end of her sentence dissolved into great, heaving sobs, and then Aymeric was there, pulling her into his arms. They stayed like that for a long, long moment as Saewynn cried herself out and Aymeric’s warm hands stroked her brown hair and rubbed slow, soothing circles into her back.

Eventually, Saewynn’s sobs eased into gentle sniffles, and she pasted a tremulous smile on her face before looking up at Aymeric. “I…I suppose I owe you an explanation.”

Aymeric’s answering smile was a little shaky, but no less real, and he was shaking his head in reply before he even opened his mouth to speak. “Nay, Saewynn, you owe me nothing-“ but he stopped as Saewynn laid her index finger on the plush pink arc of his lips.

“It’s all right, Aymeric. I want to tell you this.” She barreled on, not giving him time to interrupt or herself time to talk herself out of her words. “There are two main fears that have kept me from pursuing you. The first stems from the circumstances of my birth. Not just the fact that I’m a street rat from Limsa Lominsa. It’s the fact that I was born after the son of a rich Ul’dahn merchant made my mother fall in love with him, deceived her into thinking he returned her affections, and then sent my mother to Limsa Lominsa after she fell pregnant with me.”

Aymeric’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly for several seconds before he managed to formulate a response. “I…see. And because I, too, am a man with power and wealth, you fear that I will do the same to you?”

The hurt writ plain across his features had Saewynn’s eyes going wide with denial. “Nophica’s tits, no! Maybe I did at first, before I came to live in Ishgard and came to know you as a friend and not just an ally. I know you better now, of course, and I’ve come to realize how very wrong I was. But every time I thought of telling you of my feelings, that little fear that I thought I’d put to rest came back to life, and so I always talked myself out of telling you.” She hung her head in shame. “I’m…I’m so sorry, Aymeric. That fear…it’s one of the reasons why I still think that although you love me, you deserve better than me.”

At this, Aymeric looked absolutely _baffled_. “You think I deserve better than a Warrior of Light? What sort of woman did you have in mind for me, the Fury Herself?”

Saewynn laughed. “Mm, I wouldn’t aim quite _that_ high. One of Her handmaids, mayhaps. Someone who’s not a Warrior of Light. Someone who can stay with you. The man I call my father, the man who was Maeve’s blood father, he stayed with my mother through thick and thin. He was a fisherman and sometimes had to leave home for days on end. So he scrimped and saved for months so he could buy linkpearls and tell my mother when a storm would delay his return. He never gave her cause to be uncertain.” Sighing, she leaned back into her pillows. “My father taught me that if you love someone, you stay with them. But because I’m a Warrior of Light, I _can’t_ stay with you. The knowledge of my duty, that I’ll eventually have to leave, it would hang over what few moments we’d have together.”

Aymeric nodded gravely. “I understand, Saewynn, better than you might think. Being the Lord Commander consumes much of my time. I also understand the demands your duties place upon you.” He leaned in, close enough that if he were to tilt his head a few more ilms forward, his forehead would brush against hers. “And the fact that you embrace your duty so selflessly is just one of the many reasons why I love you. I understand your fears, Saewynn, I do. If you wish to continue as friends, then I will respect that, and simply rejoice that you are a part of my life. But no matter what, I will promise you this: there is nothing anyone could ever say or do that could make me feel ashamed of my love for you. And I swear on everything I am that no matter how far you go or how long we must part, you will always be able to come back to me. I will welcome you with open arms and a heart full of joy, as a friend or a lover or however you might want me.”

Saewynn looked into those impossibly blue eyes of his and found only sincerity. “Oh, just come here and kiss me, you dear sweet man,” she giggled. 

Aymeric wasted no time in cupping her cheek in one large hand and slanting his mouth against hers. Saewynn’s world instantly shrank to the softness of his lips, the woodsy-sweet scent of him…She melted into his kiss, raising one hand to tangle in his black hair. She pulled him closer to her, and to her surprise, the motion pulled a low moan from Aymeric. 

Saewynn wanted to hear that moan again.

Saewynn wanted _him_. 

Aymeric pulled his mouth from hers, but she still held him close, nuzzling her nose against his. Unbridled joy sang through her, and though tears fell down her cheeks, they were tears of happiness. “I’ve wanted to do that since you told Alphinaud what sort of person becomes a Temple Knight,” she whispered.

Her heart fluttered at his answering laugh. “I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you standing in the snow in Coerthas, swearing over that lost caravan,” he replied.

Saewynn could only laugh in joy and wonderment. “Just so you know, Aymeric?”

“What?”

“I love you, too.”


End file.
